LSI Logic and Synplicity Team to Develop Customized Physical Synthesis Tool for LSI Logic's RapidChip™ Platform

Next-Generation Physical Synthesis Tool Speeds Time-to-Design for LSI Logic's RapidChip Products

MILPITAS, Calif., and SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 22, 2003 — LSI Logic Corp. (NYSE: LSI) and Synplicity Inc. (Nasdaq: SYNP) today announced a joint development, marketing and distribution agreement to provide an optimized physical synthesis tool expressly for LSI Logic’s RapidChip customers. Synplicity is working closely with LSI Logic’s RapidChip engineering team to create a customized physical synthesis solution that uniquely targets the RapidChip architecture and sets a new standard for custom logic designer productivity. The result of this joint development will be a new class of physical synthesis tool that enables designers to readily achieve design goals on RapidChip products. As part of the agreement, LSI Logic will also license the jointly developed physical synthesis product for internal use.

RapidChip enables the design of complex, customized system-on-a-chip products quickly and predictably. To meet the RapidChip time-to-market requirements, design tools must be able to automatically map to RapidChip slices and fully utilize the RapidChip architecture. Synplicity is developing a custom physical synthesis and mapping tool that enables RapidChip customers to quickly achieve placement-based timing closure of high-density, high-performance designs at their site. The tool is built on an automated, easy-to-use physical synthesis technology suited for a logic designer, not a physical design expert. Starting from pre-built RapidChip slices and using Synplicity’s tool, customers benefit from a streamlined design flow that addresses physical design issues up-front: floorplanning, placement, congestion management, test, packaging, power, clock, and signal integrity. Because physical design issues are addressed early, LSI Logic would be able to deliver a GDSII tape-out as fast as one week per million logic gates from the customer handoff. This is unprecedented for this level of complexity.

The RapidChip silicon platform includes a customer configurable logic fabric and highly optimized memories coupled with LSI Logic's silicon-proven CoreWare. The benefit this provides is to enable customers to integrate their unique logic functionality with industry compliant high-speed SERDES, industry standard processors and industry leading memories pre-built on a RapidChip slice. RapidChip's unique logic architecture can be configured with up to five metal layers enabling designers to realize performance and routing densities typically achieved with standard cell designs and well beyond what is possible with the architectures characteristic of FPGA and other structured ASIC devices.

"LSI Logic’s RapidChip silicon platform utilizes some innovative architectures and approaches that allow a much broader range of customers access, for the first time, to state of the art technology and intellectual property at an affordable cost of design and entry. We are developing a physical synthesis product with Synplicity as an enhancement to our RapidChip product to enable our customers to take full advantage of the capabilities offered by RapidChip,” said Ronnie Vasishta, vice president, Technology Marketing, LSI Logic Corporation. “Teaming with Synplicity to provide RapidChip customers with a customized physical synthesis tool is a natural extension of our history in developing and delivering industry-leading design tools and methodologies and once again providing this to a very broad base of customers.”

" We believe custom physical synthesis is a requirement for maximizing the performance of the RapidChip architecture and we are pleased LSI Logic has chosen Synplicity to develop this tool for its RapidChip design flow,” said Ken McElvain, chief technical officer, Synplicity Inc. “We believe by applying a unique high-performance, high-capacity physical synthesis solution to the RapidChip flow — one which brings together the benefits of physical synthesis and silicon virtual prototyping into one tool environment — designers will be able to achieve significant area reduction for the RapidChip architecture, thus reducing silicon costs.”

In a separate purchase agreement, LSI Logic has expanded their use of Synplicity’s suite of FPGA and verification design tools.

Availability
Synplicity expects its customized physical synthesis product to be available for RapidChip customers in the third quarter of 2003. Synplicity and LSI Logic are working together to train their field application engineers and design centers on the new product. In future phases of the relationship, Synplicity intends to develop enhanced versions of the software in conjunction with LSI Logic to integrate the latest design software and architectural enhancements to the RapidChip solution.

About RapidChip
The RapidChip semiconductor platform combines the high-density, high-performance benefits of cell-based ASICs with the fast time-to-market and customization benefits of FPGAs, and the proven IP benefits of ASSPs. Targeting the Communications, Consumer and Storage markets, RapidChip uses LSI Logic's high-performance field-tested CoreWare® IP, customizable logic, embedded memory, and innovative design concepts to significantly reduce design and manufacturing risk and costs. RapidChip also provides a fast and seamless migration path to full standard-cell ASIC - driving unit costs even lower.

Unique to RapidChip is the customer-friendly interface that dramatically simplifies the underlying complexity of the design tools and flows associated with SoC design. Rule sets automatically manage architectural design, verification, and physical design. As a result, design schedules for high-performance chips are very predictable. Information on RapidChip technology is available through LSI Logic's direct sales channels and worldwide distribution partners.

About LSI Logic Corporation
LSI Logic Corporation is a leading designer and manufacturer of communications, consumer and storage semiconductors for applications that access, interconnect and store data, voice and video. In addition, the company supplies storage network solutions for the enterprise. LSI Logic is headquartered at 1621 Barber Lane, Milpitas, California. Additional information about LSI Logic can be found at http://www.lsilogic.com.

About Synplicity
Synplicity Inc. (Nasdaq: SYNP) is a leading provider of software products that enable the rapid and effective design and verification of semiconductors used in networking and communications, computer and peripheral, consumer and military/aerospace electronics systems. Recognizing the company's industry-leading position, since the year 2000 Dataquest has named Synplicity as the #1 provider of PLD synthesis tools, announcing a 54 percent market share in 2001. Synplicity leverages its innovative logic synthesis, physical synthesis and verification software solutions to improve performance and shorten development time for complex programmable logic devices, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), structured ASICs and system-on-chip (SoC) integrated circuits. The company’s fast, easy-to-use products offer high quality of results, support industry-standard design languages (VHDL and Verilog) and run on popular platforms. As of March 31, 2003, Synplicity employed over 260 people in its 20 facilities worldwide. Synplicity is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. For more information on Synplicity, visit http://www.synplicity.com.

The specific features and functionality of new products in combination with products from third parties as described in this press release remain at the sole discretion of Synplicity, Inc. and no warranty is made as to whether the specific functionalities of such products will occur as described in the press release.

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Synplicity is a registered trademark of Synplicity, Inc. CoreWare is a registered trademark of LSI Logic Corp. RapidChip is a trademark of LSI Logic Corp. All other names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their owners.

Synplicity Press Contact:
Steve Gabriel
Porter Novelli
408/369-1800
steve.gabriel@porternovelli.com

Diana Hodges
LSI Logic Corporation
408-433-4245
dschultz@lsil.com
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Synplicity Reader Contact:
John Gallagher
Synplicity, Inc.
408/215-6000
johng@synplicity.com

Crystal Patriarche
Brodeur Worldwide
602-282-5467
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